Architects Spend a Day in Wheelchairs to Think “Beyond Compliance”

Opened last April, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, MA, is the result of placing the needs of disabled patients at the center of the design experience. “I recall arranging for architects to spend a day in the old hospital using manual wheelchairs,” explains Betsy Pillsbury, disability resources coordinator. “It was an invaluable exercise that helped them to better understand the challenges patients face on a daily basis.”

The result is a facility that, according to Paula Hereau, vice president of operations, “…moves beyond compliance with the accommodation requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. So it’s not just about making it okay for handicapped people to use the facility, but making it easy and open for anyone to use it.”

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, MA, is a 132-bed acute rehabilitation facility that is a model of sustainable, patient-centered design.